Serendipity is a good thing…… I think…….

You only know you make the right/wrong choice until you see it through. How did you know you dun like Piano until you played it??

Signing up to the consultancy gives me a better exposure to wider projects, but it also means that I have to travel more and actually dig my fingers out and do some work! God knows how my holiday going to pend out as well! We will see……

The week passed pretty much without drama or elation. Everyone at work knows I am moving on so the clock is ticking. I am still a bit weary why the consultancy wanted me in such a hurry I guess the quicker they put me on the better, even if it means I started 3 weeks before Christmas. On that note what am I doing for Christmas and new year? Now that I am no longer with my hostel family I truly dunno. Oh well, I really dun give a shit and quite happy to sit in my own house, sleep, watch DVD and play computer games all day!

The comedy course is turning out to be quite a challenge. Writing something funny is not easy, saying it out loud and making it funny is even harder. As Logan the course leader says “words on a piece of paper won’t save you.”. I got a Dictaphone for recording all the practice gags, it helps to listen to it afterwards.

I wrote a piece of intellectual humour (a congratulation letter from Hitler to Chamberlain) as my homework and it just shot over everyone’s head. Its ok, I got a valuable lesson out of performing and thats the most important part of the exercise. Also have a chance do do a bit of mic work on a mock stage, it felt strangely calm and relax behind the mic. Being on stage with a mic and having an audience silent hanging on your words are a very empowering experience! Its like saying to everyone “…..look at me, I got a mic, listen to me cause I got important things to say……”

 Went to Saturday standup show and its got one of the better line-up than most nights. Gosh it was kinda of a blur with one of the line sticking is “The only time you wanted to hear the phrase “Its not you, its me” is in an Aids test.” It was also pretty funny watch a middle age white guy raping about his life and going on about the colour “beige”! The night also turned out to be quite random with 2 young gals coming up to me and Stevie (another guy does the course) and saying “oh you guys does IT, blah blah……”. Turns out that shes a first year law student out of uni, wow thats a bit rich!!

To cap off the night, End up in this “industry bar” where people from the theatre goes after the close of their shows. Its members only and is decorated with memorabilias from past and present shows along with the cast signature. Funky place! and for 120 pounds worth of annual membership to be surrounded by actors/actresses of the West end theatre is well worth it!

How quickly wheel can turn.

Its been a funny week this week. Not bad, just a bit odd.

Went to a Stand Up gig on Monday and it was strange. Its the new material night where comedians tried out their new gags and routines.  Basically its the test “screening” for comedians to find out if their stuffs are actually funny. Just because you can make your friends laugh doesn’t mean you can make everyone else laugh.

Its a very different stand up gig. Everyone is very laid back and chill. The audience are not pressuring the comedian for a punchline nor is the comedian pressed to tell something funny: An ideal relax Monday evening.

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Went for an interview with an agency on Thursday than got an offer for a new job on Friday. Thats awesomely sweet!! I think its a great compliment!! I have a great ability to demonstrate to people that I am a capable and knowledgeable person. With a recession looming and the fact that I am joining a consultancy that charges by the hour, I better pull my finger out and do some work!! It does also put some of my holiday at odds and hopefully I can still take some time off in January.

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Saturday sees 2 antipodeans leaving London: Mark the hostel manager is leaving London for Canada and Srinath going to India. For the night  I was bouncing between two different parties.

Surprisingly most of the people I know were absent in Mark’s party. Maybe its the nature of the party so all Mark’s own friends and Mark’s GF family are there. Also very little hostel people can afford  drinks at Covent Garden prices. It also interesting that one of the things came up is how fast people can turn. Azrai is a kiwi gal thats been living and working in the new Hostel since its first open. There was a period that she was like being an absolute bitch and not pulling her weight during her shift at the hostel. All the gals that live there hated her and wanted her out.

See Azrai at the time was going through a bad patch. She been looking for a nanny job for a while and got screwed by a few family that basically used her as free babysitter. I am not 100% sure the timing but judging from her recent break up with her boyfriend her relationship weren’t doing well.

Blessed is Mark who refused to kick her out. He believed that he should stick with people not just for the good times but also through the bad times. Now that Azrai got herself another nanny job the gals like them again.

I might be generalising here : I believe that although as much as men and women has rivalry amongst their respective packs. Men has a tendencies to look out for each other and the one with the leadership responsibility looks out for everyone in the packs and hence why hes the alpha: He can command respect amongst his pack. Woman bitches amongst themselves and will turn on each other when it suits them. Survival of the fittest also propels people up the top, but eventually you step on enough people’s toes and have so many enemies that will weight you down on your final step to the top of the Pyramid. That is my “interpretation” to a glass ceiling.

Anyway, I wished to see alot more of mine female friends understand the point of “sticking with a friend through good times and the bad” Especially one particular person.

Mark’s party was epping a little, so I ended up going to Srinath’s party for the rest of the night. Didn’t have a good time there either as my inadequacy with woman combine with the bout of jealousy I suffered during Mark’s party means I didn’t have a good night at all. I just left early.

Should sometimes put in a few more “mundane” details into my blog. Today I managed to lock myself out of the house, it sure handy to be in a flatshare as you can always give someone a call to get a spare set of keys!!

 

Between the gutters and the stars – 2nd gig

Hmmm….. this is something that I wanted to do for a while. Yup….. stand up comedy!

See you only knew how hard something is until you do it, its like only until you walk the path you realised what its involved. A good standup comics like Eddie Izzard or Bill Hicks make everything look spontaneous and easy, but in reality stand-up comedy actually requires structure, discipline and perseverance (Something Logan our course leader keep drilling into us). A stand-up routine is tried and proven after numerous gigs. Routine thats not funny are dropped and stuff that are funny are refine further. The only way to find out if thins are funny or not is to try it in front of the audience.

Whats more is that it takes a long time to develop a routine,  a 20 mins gag could be developed over years of effort and dying on stage! The craft of the comic is not an easy art indeed. Its also funny how humour works too. The other day we did a poem writing exercise where you have to write a poem in 3 mins and its pretty average and not that funny, some reason everyone loved it!! I guess like they say: Simplicity is genius! Its not always required to have a super clever punchline.

I only been to two lessons and we did alot of “fuck around” and improvisation and it was fun! I was a little intimated by the actors and writers that show up to the course and have a head start over me. This is not a race and people are not competitive but very supportive of each other. Its kind of like therapy where people support each other going through the same thing. Suffering breeds empathy!!  

I am doing alot of wirting at the moment. Running a few routines in my head where I think its funny, jog down a joke whenever I can it takes alot of time and effort. Hell! At least by the end of the course I should have 5 mins of my routine where I can perform!!!

As they say stay tune! We will see how this she-bang pends out…….

Life in an Ikea bubble…..

Thats right, I wasted most of my saturday in Ikea.

See…..we broked a few slats on our Ikea sofa bed so I am off to the closet Ikea to look for some slats. Turns out they dun sell any individual slat, you will have to buy the whole couch to get the slat. They do work the furniture down to a certain price point, but you also certainly get what you paid for and if you wanted you can pay for an extra one so you have enough spares to keep it going as long as a quality one.

 Went for a bit of stand-up comedy on Saturday night. God it was good fun! Can’t believe it took me more than a year in London before seeing a stand-up gig. The tickets actually came as part of the stand-up comedy course I am enrolled in. Last few months I found that humour was largely missing from my life. I missed the days when I joke around with Richard and Jim. We were bumming around most of the time but some of the spontaneous shit that they come up with are just pure gold. Really they should pick up a career in comedy writing.

Ran into K-Bo, Simon again with Kylee, Alan and Karin. Things are ok as it just a casual catch-up drink. Maybe things are normalising a little ……. K-Bo still talk a bit of shit here and there. I was thinking about writing it here but decided not to dwell on it! I made my view on the matter known to all those present and thats the end of it . I weren’t being rude but I shouldn’t be afraid to speak up  No more Mr nice guy!